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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880682">The Bridge: Incomplete Struggle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titan64/pseuds/Titan64'>Titan64</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gamera (Movies), Godzilla - All Media Types, ウルトラギャラクシー大怪獣バトル | Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:54:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titan64/pseuds/Titan64</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Years ago during Final War, the young kaiju Gomora charged into battle with abandon. He remembered the scars he earned that day. He didnt remember orphaning a little girl who curses his very name. Ayana, now a grown adult, seeks vengeance upon the saurian who's grown since then. But can he outgrow the sins of his past?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Bridge: Incomplete Struggle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“YOU GODDAMN DING DONG!” followed by the sound of an explosion is what was the result of some very poor choices earlier this evening.</p>
<h1> 
A few hours earlier
</h1><p>The Mu Island chain was a small tropical archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, home to many of Terra's greatest defenders… or at least it used to be. Now it only hosted a few. </p><p>THWACK, THWACK! Boxing the air in the midst of a training session was a three-horned young Titan covered in brown scales. Standing at about 95 meters in height and weighing in at around 58,000 tonnes, the Titan named Gomora was trying to keep his thoughts busy. A few days ago an assault on Solgell occurred, and in its aftermath many of Terra’s greatest were nowhere to be found. Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, and Mothra, all of them gone in the blink of an eye. With them came the leaders of the mutations, Xenilla and his lapdog Destoroyah. If the tri-horned Titan could see anything good that came out of their current situation, it was that those two monsters were gone. </p><p>But that had left a power vacuum. One that many of the remaining mutations were rushing to capitalize on. Gomora’s punching speed began to increase. He smashed his fist through yet another tower of rock, causing it to crumble to the ground. Most of the other defenders, mostly Gamera and Raiga, were doing what they could to maintain the peace. The young Titan grumbled to himself. As much as he respected his fellow defenders, he knew better. Those damned Breach kaiju had started getting bolder, with more of them frequently emerging from the Breach than ever before. Gomora could tell that the Anterversers were trying to overwhelm the undermanned Defenders with numbers. And with the Mutants now running amok, there wouldn't be much they could do against that. He snarled in frustration as his tail lashed about. </p><p>Gomora knew now more than ever how much they were needed to protect mankind, and they needed somebody to step up to the plate. Deep down, he knew in his heart it had to be him. He <em>had</em>  to get stronger, faster, keep pushing himself past his limits and beyond that so nobody would get hurt from these monstrosities. Times were desperate, and the defenders needed someone stronger than who he was now to help keep the peace. The Titan began punching another rock pillar, chunks of earth blowing off due to the raw force of the blow. As he kept whittling down his DIY training dummy, Gomora started feeling he was being watched. He looked over his shoulder just a tad, for a brief moment able to catch a glimpse of a young pair of eyes looking right at him. </p><p>Gomora smirked a little and pretended not to notice his audience. He took a step back, raising his tail and smashing it on the ground, causing it to shake. He grinned and with a quick twist of his waist and shifting of his feet, Gomora obliterated the remaining structure of rock with his tail. Some of the structure flying in multiple directions, one unknown to Gomora, flying over his viewer’s little head. He stood there, proud for a few seconds before letting out a loud grunt. </p><p>“Come on, kid, I know you're there.” the young Titan turned around, being met with a smaller version of Orka. Gorgo’s tail wagged excitedly as he looked up at Gomora. Gomora bent down on his knees to meet the younger kaiju at eye level, a smile prominent on his face as he patted the youngster on the head. </p><p>“That was awesome ‘Ra!” Gorgo said excitedly, smiling so wide that his eyes closed. Gomora shrugged, rolling his shoulders a little bit. </p><p>“Eh I try to be.” the young Titan said, trying his best to sound humble for the little guy. “Just takes practi-” </p><p>
  <em>“Gom! You there? I found a way to get some brownie points with the boss.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Got word of a Blueberry heading for Indonesia."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Them again? Those bastards just keep popping out of that damn trench."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You game?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Damn right I am. Name the time and place and let's go!"</em>
</p><p>“Where ya-” Gorgo began, before leaping out of the way as Gomora slammed his head into the earth and began to burrow at a rapid pace.</p><p>“No time to talk, gotta go kid, bye!” was Gomora’s brisk farewell, barely heard as his tail disappeared below the ground. Nevermind Gorgo, there was a fight to get to! He almost felt bad for being excited about it. Almost. There was no denying the giddiness he felt as his horn shot through hardpacked soil. He’d smear that Anteverse Kaiju just like that, and it’d be such a beating that the Anteversers would stop sending out their trash. Because the truth was, there was no power vacuum on Earth. Why? Because they had him to take their place.</p><p>He had to.</p>
<h1>Tasikmalaya</h1><p>Tasikmalaya rumbled with a horrible roar as the seas disgorged yet another abomination. Rationally, every person in the city had known that living where they were was a risk. Any land on the Pacific was cheap as could be for a good reason, everyone knew that. Nonetheless, every person in the city had hoped it wouldn’t be theirs, had prayed whenever the warning sounded off a Breach kaiju appearing that it wouldn’t come to their city. And now, their luck had run out.</p><p>The only sound that rivaled the massive, armor and horn-covered monster’s bellows were the screams and shouts of horror as massive crowds of people fled from its destructive path. If the Anteverse kaiju had been of a more cruel sort, a Mutant, it may have stopped to relish in sadistically killing people individually. Hardship, however, was a soldier. A veteran with the experience of a thousand lives piloting its Kaiju Blue brain, and it would not be sloppy. Its masters had sensed the planet’s weakness, and there would be no dallying. The mission was to destroy as much as possible, and Hardship would execute that. With massive sweeps of its long arms, Hardship sent houses and buildings flying in every direction, scouring the earth as though a huge broom. Hardship was a soldier with a mission, but somehow, the people below could still swear there was an evil intent in its sapphire eyes. Evil or not, sadistic or efficient, it was of little comfort to the thousands trod upon as Hardship stampeded over the people too slow to escape its methodical building clearing.</p><p>Hardship chomped its way through an armored building with a huge swing of its massive head, swallowing a hundred who had thought that the “shelter” building would serve that purpose at all. The fools were always the first to go. Hardship reared up, letting out a roar. Not out of pride or glee, no, to make the pests run out of their little holes. Just as Hardship let out its bellow, a few thousand tons of metal and advanced polymers smashed into the Anteverse soldier’s face. Teeth the size of cars littered the streets of Tasikmalaya with crashes that smashed building fronts and roads and a spray of Kaiju Blue from Hardship’s busted lip condemned the city’s water supply to an arduous filtration. The kaiju staggered back, shaking its craggy head to clear it. As its eyes settled on its enemy, Hardship snarled. Though the blood from its body would kill many, it would pale compared to the amount it could kill with claw and tooth. The little pests underfoot might not care much for how they died, but Hardship did. To kill less than the entire population was unacceptable. And that meant that the Jaeger before it was also on the list.</p><p>“That’s right! Come right at us, you ugly motherfucker!” a voice shouted from the Jaeger’s loudspeakers. But the taunt was entirely unneeded. Hardship was already charging at it with all four arms extended and drool flying from its open maw. </p><p>“I’d say we got its atten-!” the Jaeger was cut off as Hardship’s forearms slammed into its shoulders and its spiked limbs slashed at the robot’s chestplate. With a quick enough attack, a vicious enough attack, a Jaeger could be instantly taken. Hardship’s experience told it to aim for the head. Hardship reared back, preparing to slam down on the Jaeger commpod with both its huge arms and finish this fight quickly. The spike-arms kept the Jaeger pinned down, and Hardship could smell victory. Just as it swung its fists down, suddenly Hardship caught a glimpse of something sharp emerging from the Jaeger’s arm. Wheeling backward with uncanny agility for its size, Hardship avoided having its face impaled by the Jaeger’s hidden blade. Hardship regained its balance, resting on both of his legs and glaring as the Jaeger got up with only a few scratches on the chest plate to show for Hardship’s efforts. The attempt at a quick-kill had failed. And that meant...</p><p>“This is Tacit Ronin! Hardship intercepted!” Tacit Ronin’s pilots called out through their comms, recognizing just as well as the kaiju the significance of stopping the kaiju short. With their bodies serving as a shield, even if Hardship was able to defeat their Jaeger, there was no way a scout kaiju like Hardship would be in any condition to take the rest of Java. The game was already over. It was only a matter of time before Hardship would be worn down by its foe’s inexhaustible stamina.</p><p>Then the ground started rumbling as a horned Titan rose from the earth, striking a pose as he readied for the upcoming battle.</p><p>"Have no fear because <strong>I</strong> am here!" </p><p>Gomora roared as he set his gaze on the Blueberry present.</p><p>"When the hell did he show up?" The Jaeger pilot, Eren, wondered aloud to his co-pilot, Mikasa. Who could only shrug as both readied to continue the combat.</p><p>Hardship could only snarl in frustration at the arrival of Gomora. Who was this imbecile to hop in just to rub salt in the wound? This day could only keep getting worse! Well, there was only one sensible option in this scenario. Hardship sent out a hive call. This call was spoken in a language only its brothers and sisters could understand. And luckily for him, his call was answered as three more Kaiju warped out of the Breach to back him up, swimming through the seas at breakneck speeds to reinforce their comrade.</p><p>
  <em> "Gom, we got incoming! Three more Blueberries!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Three? I can take them all on!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"One of em’s a category five."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, well shit." </em>
</p><p>Those odds weren't gonna bode well for him. Gomora huffed in exasperation. Well, if he could kill Hardship here &amp; now, his odds were likely to improve-if only slightly. A smirk formed on The Subterranean Knight's face. </p><p>Time to go to work. </p><p>Glass shattered and buildings trembled as Hardship let loose an earth-shattering roar. The armored kaiju lowered his head and dashed forwards to skewer this pest. Gomora side-stepped out of the way and threw a fist right into the kaiju’s cheek, blue blood splattering forth from the Anteverse beast's maw. Not wanting to give the bastard a second to recuperate, Gomora lowered his head and bashed it into the Anteverse beast’s side, using the twin horns on the side of his head he thrust upwards with enough physical force to cause Hardship to fall, crashing into several buildings below. </p><p>Gomora watched on as a cloud of dust and debris shrouded the area, his foe rearing itself out from the cloud and back up onto his feet. The anteverse kaiju turned its head to lock eyes with the young Titan, a smirk still on his face. Hardship roared as loud as he possibly could, even with those blank glowing eyes Gomora could tell he pissed him off. The anteverser lunged forward, using its massive arms to swipe at the Titan. Gomora ducked just in the nick of time, feeling the air swoosh above him from the blow. He thrust his head forward, the putrid stench of Hardship’s blood filling his nostrils as he stabbed his nasal horn right into the Breach Kaiju’s chest.</p><p>Using his horn, Gomora thrust his head upwards, slashing a large gash into Hardship. The Anteverser let out a howl of pain, and the overwhelming stench of its ammonic, toxic blood made Gomora want to gag. This small moment of weakness would be met with a sudden stinging feeling as Gomora felt Hardship slash him across the cheek, causing the Titan to suddenly stagger to the right. Crimson red dripped down to the streets below, as Gomora took a step or two back, snarling. Damn bastard, lucky shot. Didn’t matter anyhow. To Gomora, this was just a damn scratch. </p><p>“That's the best you got? Guess they don’t make em as good as they used to,” Gomora uttered at Hardship, a smirk still on his face. The anteverse Kaiju might all be instinct-driven beasts, but even he could tell that if its face was capable of such, it would be red with rage. Good. The more he kept Hardship focused on him, the safer the evacuation of civilians will be. That and as a bonus, he gets to show off a little bit, a win-win in his book. Hardship let loose another roar, quickly closing the distance between them. </p><p>Gomora bent down a little, bracing his powerful legs and slamming his tail into the earth, cracks slithering across the ground from the impact. Just as the breach Kaiju got close and went for a swing, the ground imploded as the Subterranean Knight leaped into the air, sailing over his opponent. And Hardship’s blow met nothing but dead air. He was right where Gomora wanted him. </p><p>Using his forward momentum, Gomora flipped in the air and lashed his tail downwards right into the back of hardship. The sound of a shockwave and a shattered carapace was heard as Hardship's face got the taste of concrete and rubble in its maw as he smashed into the ground. The ground imploded on itself, causing a multitude of surrounding buildings to collapse and fall. The Titan landed a few meters away from the currently unmoving Hardship. Great Tanaka he loved that move, anytime he used it against Raiga he was usually met with either a grin of approval for thinking outside the box or…back first into the hardened rock surface. </p><p>
  <em><br/>
“Whattaya rate that one, Rei?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“10 outta 10, bud! Wait...oh, oh shitttttt…” </em>
</p><p><em>“What, what is it?”</em> Gomora tensed up as he heard the worry in his friend’s voice, jerking around and keeping an eye on their surroundings.</p><p>
  <em><br/>
“I, uh, think you might have gotten a two for one…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“That’s good, isn’t it?”</em>
</p><p><em>“Not when one of the two was Tacit Ronin.”</em> Gomora blinked and looked over Hardship’s unmoving form and spotted Tacit Ronin just as still behind the Anteverse kaiju. It must have been rushing in from behind Hardship for a sneak attack to the back and gotten bashed by Gomora’s tail when it hit Hardship, Gomora realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach. The Jaeger’s armor was badly dented by the powerful tail swing, and the head lolled in a precarious manner.<em>“Oh, hang on, the pilots are radioing me...”</em> Gomora breathed a sigh of relief, at least the pilots were okay. However, his relief quickly diminished as soon as it came as the sound of rage-filled his ears from Rei’s mental link. </p><p>“貴様!”</p><p>“Control your fucking monster before I chop it up into little fucking pieces and fucking feed it to you! Then you’ll be full of shit in more ways than one!” </p><p>Gomora snarled in Rei’s defense, stomping the ground and roaring at the Jaeger. Ungrateful douchebags in the cockpit, so what if they’d gotten a bit bruised up? They hadn’t really gotten hurt and a win was a win anyway, so why all the bitching? They should be grateful instead!</p><p>“Hey, hey, we took the kaiju down!” Rei shouted back at the Jaeger pilots, no less incensed than his partner as he had to fight through a mess of various insults and threats over the radio. </p><p>“No, no you didn’t!” shouted Eren.</p><p>“Oh come off your damn high horse, just because Gomora and I are doing better than you doesn’t mean you have to be such a sore loser about it. We took it down fair and square-”</p><p>“Shut up. Did you check the kaiju’s pulse yet?” Mikasa hissed through the radio.</p><p>“Do you want us to give it a rectal exam and some shots too?” Rei snapped back incredulously. “Thing’s dead anyway, no point in checking.” </p><p><em>“If it gets them to shut up, I’ll whack the damn kaiju.”</em> Gomora communicated to Rei bitterly, scowling as he approached Hardship again. Gomora gave the fallen kaiju a few whacks with his tail, rolling his eyes all the while. This was so absurdly paranoid, acting as if it would pop back up after a hit like that. He’d just turned its brains to mashed potatoes, and they thought it’d be getting back up? Gomora continued to whack Hardship with his tail, the blows going from inquisitive to angry, leaving large blue welts over the kaiju as the saurian Titan vented his frustrations on it. Those stupid Jaeger pilots had no idea what they were dealing with! He and Rei shouldn’t have to listen to them!</p><p>“Detecting motion!” Mikasa suddenly shouted, but Gomora and Rei rolled their eyes simultaneously. </p><p>“We already told you, it’s fucking dea-!”</p><p>SHUNK!</p><p>Gomora let out a loud screech of pain as the tip of his tail was lanced clean through. He hopped forward, jerking around and looking at his tail as the fiery pain surged through him. His long tail’s tip dribbled with blood as if it had just been stabbed by something long and sharp. His eyes jerked to Hardship’s body, and with a sinking feeling, he realized that the Anteverser was actually getting back up, despite the dozens of bruises and broken bones it surely had endured from Gomora’s assault. Hardship drooled his toxic blood and fluid throughout the street, refusing to give up as he bellowed yet another challenge at Gomora. </p><p><em>“Okay, well he’s a bit tougher than we thought. But you kicked his ass once, Gomora, you can do it again!”</em>Rei called encouragingly, trying to get his radio working simultaneously. The shock of seeing Gomora bleeding had made him leap backward and accidentally bang the radio on a nearby rock, scrambling the channels on it. Gomora screeched his agreement and lunged towards Hardship once more, grappling the weakened Anteverser and forcing it backward. “Thanks for the heads up. We’re going to finish taking care of this one this time.” Rei begrudgingly admitted to the Jaeger pilots once he got the channels organized again, inwardly preparing for another series of insults. What he wasn’t prepared for was the utter panic in their voices as their calls finally came through</p><p><em>“-Arsch mit Ohren!</em> There’s more here already! Damn things are swarming!” Rei registered the information numbly, looking out across the cityscape. Another kaiju? But how? He hadn’t seen anything, and it wasn’t like kaiju were stealthy. Then his memory flashed back to the wound on Gomora’s tail. It had been a piercing, thin blade, not like Hardship’s great horn. And the stab had come from below, which meant…</p><p>
  <em>“GOMORA, UNDER YOU!”</em>
</p><p>Too late, however, as out of the ground exploded something like a massive, armored lizard with six legs and a spear-like tail, leaping onto Gomora’s back just as he prepared to stab his horn into a dazed Hardship.</p><p><em>"OH FU-!"</em> Gomora barely had the time to curse before the newly arrived kaiju swung its bladed tail again. This time Hakuja struck the collarbone of the young Titan, coming dangerously close to slicing one of Gomora’s arteries. Gomora grasped the blade as it sank into his shoulder, rough skin bleeding but not gushing. Gomora snarled as the pain only served to get his adrenaline pumping. This was twice he had let his guard down, a mistake he could not afford to make again. </p><p>Hakuja tried to yank his tail free, calling out to Hardship for backup. Hardship roared in reply and charged forward, horn pointed at Gomora’s chest. But even with a tail in his shoulder, Hardship’s simple attack hardly posed a threat. Using his remarkable strength, Gomora tossed Hakuja off of him, sending the beast hurdling into his charging foe. The sound of two megaton beasts colliding into each other echoed across the city as both Anteversers crashed into a nearby skyscraper.  </p><p>“Is that the best you got!?” Gomora roared, twin horns on his face beginning to glow as they vibrated. The molecules making up the air around him vibrated to such a degree, heat waves rolled off of his armored head.</p><p>Gomora narrowed his eyes at the fallen Anteversers. Time for them to re-meet their makers! With a roar that shook the buildings around him, Gomora launched a red shockwave from his nasal horn, every window for miles shattering as the ground sundering blast flew towards the pair of horrified Anteversers. The last thing Hardship ever saw was a burning light that snuffed out his final screech before it could even finish exiting his throat. The building that now made up his tomb shattered into rubble, sending up a cloud of dust twice as tall as Gomora was. Mixed in with the rubble was a fine rain of Kaiju Blue, giving any nearby intact buildings a toxic dye job as it fell. Gomora shook his head as the foul substance rained down on him, trying to ignore the light stinging as he stared into the dust cloud. Hardship’s dismembered body parts stood out, but just below his corpse was a giant hole in the ground. A burrow.</p><p>“Is there anyone else that wants a piece of me?!” Gomora snorted irritably as he focused his senses to detect any new ambush attempts from Hakuja. Vibrations rumbled along the ground below his tail, making him shudder all the way up to his horns. Not a moment later, a screeching form exploded from the surrounding debris, pouncing at him from behind. But Gomora was prepared for Hakuja this time, turning at lightning speed. Gomora caught the reptilian Kaiju by its throat before its claws could reach him, and lifted Hakuja over himself, chokeslamming the Anteverser back into the earth.</p><p>Hakuja’s eyes rolled as he lay on the ground, seeing stars. His vision barely had time to clear before he spotted Gomora raising his foot then swinging it back down with intent to crush his skull. The Anteverser mustered the reserves of whatever strength he had left to dodge at the last moment, the tonnes of Titan feet trembling the city with the impact. Hakuja shrieked in defiance as he swung his bladed tail at Gomora’s head once more, only managing to make a small cut on Gomora’s snout as the young Titan swerved his head away. In the back of his mind, the young Titan remembered: weren't there two other kaiju coming? Bah, If he could finish off this one the other two would fall easily! Gomora vibrated his horns once more, ready to finish off Hakuja once and for al-</p><p>A faint buzz and blue flash suddenly filled Gomora’s ears and eyes, causing the young Titan’s arms to shoot up in an instinctive block. Not a second later, blood spurted from his arms as barbed spikes dug into his flesh. Gomora winced, slapping the spikes out of his arms and letting them clatter down onto the ruined city streets. Plasma jumped from the spikes’ bases and tore up the ground and surrounding neighborhoods further, as if trying to continue their deadly flight. Gomora looked up from the spikes, and zeroed in on their source with a snarl. A twin-tailed Anteverser stood ready to help Hakuja, electricity crackling around the tips of its tails. Shrikethorn let loose an earth-shaking roar as he prepared to fire another salvo of plasma spines from his tails. Before Gomora could return the favor with his own ranged attack, Hakuja leaped back into the fray again, given enough time to recover thanks to Shrikethorn’s intervention. Hakuja’s wicked beak clamped around Gomora’s knee, sinking into his flesh before ripping off a chunk and nearly scraping the bone itself in the process. </p><p>Gomora howled in agony as he was forced to kneel, unable to pry Hakuja off inbetween having to take constant barrages of plasma spikes to his arms. Like porcupine quills, the barbed harpoons worked themselves deeper into his flesh every second they were inside him. He wasn’t gonna lie to himself, it hurt like Daiei but damned if he was going to give up now. If he didn’t step up to stop these Anteversers, who would? Retreating wasn't an option...and giving up wasn't a word in the Titan’s vocabulary either. Gomora roared with fervent determination; these damn Anteversers weren’t gonna break him today. He saw Shrikethorn’s tails sparking with energy once more, arcs of electricity running up and down them like Tesla coils to charge up another massive barrage. With Hakuja’s jaws fastened in his leg, Gomora would have no time to dodge or burrow underground. But a thought entered Gomora’s mind… perhaps he didn’t need to?</p><p>As Hakuja’s jaws crunched down on Gomora’s leg, the young Titan jabbed the Anteverse beast in the throat, sending the anteverse lizard into a gagging fit. Before Hakuja could recover, Gomora took hold of the smaller kaiju with a mighty heave and lifted it in front of his body. Hakuja struggled ferociously against his grappler with all six of his claws, but could not budge the Titan off of him. And nor could Shrikethorn stop his charged spines from discharging once the plasma in their bases was ignited. Hakuja shrieked in pure agony as he felt multiple plasma bolts impale him in the back, gallons of blue blood dropping onto the ground and poisoning the soil. Hakuja’s armored back did not save him from the plasma harpoons, but it did slow them down enough to prevent them from penetrating through to hit Gomora. With a warcry, Gomora charged towards Shrikethorn, now using Hakuja as his personal meat shield.</p><p>Shrikethorn stumbled backward in shock, taken aback by both the unintentional friendly fire and Gomora’s sudden bull rush. The Anteverse beast frantically tried to let loose another barrage of Plasma Harpoons to stall his foe, but with Hakuja’s body obstructing, he couldn’t get a clear shot. Shrikethorn could only stand there and cross his bulky arms in front of his face as he saw Gomora heft Hakuja overhead by the tail, before swinging him back down upon Shrikethorn as an impromptu flail to bludgeon the Anteverse beast. </p><p>Gomora slammed Hakuja’s body over Shrikethorn’s head multiple times, each impact thundering across the cityscape as the Titan pressed his advantage with the brutal assault. Hakuja let out a sharp shriek with every impact, complemented by Shrikethorn’s low groans as his attempt to block the assault was broken down. Blue blood flew everywhere from the violent beating, slipping into the city sewers as the power of the Titan’s blows tore open the streets around Shrikethorn. With one final blow, Hakuja’s blood-slicked tail slid out of Gomora’s grip and he bounced along the ground, causing a whole block of tall buildings to be turned to rubble by his limp form. Shrikethorn had fared little better, as he lay collapsed on his back with ugly bruises covering his entire form. Gomora sighed heavily, the strain of his wounds being felt a little more keenly now. His mauled leg quivered with the effort of supporting his 58,000 ton mass, and the veritable forest of spikes in his upper body had reached deep enough to scrape his very bones. Add in the Anteverser’s own noxious blood having mixed in with his own, and he felt a powerful urge to vomit. </p><p>All the same, Gomora could not help but to grin internally. With Hakuja down thanks to some friendly fire and his own clever thinking, all that was left to do was finish off Shrikethorn. Two Category 4s bagged before you could blink; no one could doubt that was amazing. As Gomora prepared to fire off the finishing blow at his fallen foe, the sound of booming footfalls filled his ears. Gomora’s heart sank into his stomach, and the young Titan turned to look at the arrival of the last Anteverse kaiju. No, not look at; look UP at it. Energized seawater pouring from a massive head obscured its visage for a moment, but soon enough the Anteverser’s entire head split open to reveal a second mouth which let out a roar like thunder. Raijin had arrived. </p><p>Gomora snorted despite the display; as far as Cat. 5s went, this one seemed positively scrawny!. Sure, it was bigger than he was, but not that much bigger. And sure, its arms and head were huge by comparison, but Gomora had his tail! Gomora pounded his leg wound and gave a sharp gasp, trying to work adrenaline back into his battered limbs. Raijin’s buddies had done their work, made every inch of him ache. Regardless, he had to end this fight now! </p><p>Raijin seemed to be of the same mind, his bandy legs propelling him forward like a runaway train. The Anteverse monster’s fortress of a head presented itself first, simultaneously chomping its many jaws and being ready to bludgeon down anything in the path of his charge. Gomora squared himself, breathing in deep.<em>Thanks for this one, Raiga</em>Just as the Category 5 came close enough that the drool from its huge maws splattered Gomora’s face, Gomora sidestepped. In that exact same motion, Gomora’s tail collided with Raijin’s ankles. Raijin let out an undignified yelp as he was sent head over heels, crashing onto his side and cutting a trench across the bloodied streets with his fall. Not missing a beat, Gomora spun his body around to use his momentum to land a finishing blow with his tail. </p><p>
  <strong>THWACK!</strong>
</p><p>The sonic boom reverberated across the city as the tail connected with Raijin’s armored head, driving him back halfway into a shopping complex. Gomora stared at the Anteverser’s silhouette in the rubble and smirked, ready to spout an amazing one-liner the moment that the dust had settled. But the words died in his mind as the dust cleared, and the glow of baleful blue eyes cut through the gloom and stared piercingly into Gomora’s. Gomora had expected to see Raijins skull caved in from the sheer force of the blow, but instead was met with the beast's face covered completely in armored plates and utterly unfazed by the blow. Gomora’s eyes widened as a massive clawed hand took him by the face before he could react, a brilliant electric blue glow filling his gaze.</p><p>Raijin’s free hand smashed directly into Gomora’s midsection, hitting with all the power of Gomora’s tail swipe and then some. </p><p>
  <strong>TH-BOOM!</strong>
</p><p>The Titan was launched a full sixty meters into the air before crashing back down into a building, smashed pieces of chest armor going flying in all directions like shrapnel from a grenade. Gomora’s entire world was spinning, his ears were ringing, and he could taste a bitter &amp; metallic fluid in his mouth. His own blood, Gomora realized through a dull fog.  A heavy foot stomped down onto his chest before he could recover, cracking a few ribs in the process and shattering the ground beneath his back as he was forced into the earth. The Titan rasped in desperation, filled with determination as he tried to lift Raijin’s foot off of him. His eyes locked with Raijin’s hateful ones, and with a screech of effort, Gomora managed to get the talons off of his chest just high enough to roll out from under Raijin. </p><p>No sooner did he do so, however, that a storm of harpoons embedded themselves in his back. Gomora almost welcomed their sharp, stinging pain, managing to shock him violently enough that he staggered back onto his feet. What he did not welcome, however, was the sight of Shrikethorn loping in beside Raijin. The pair of beasts practically seemed to laugh at Gomora’s defiance, charging ahead without any care. Gomora hated that careless look in their eyes, but maybe it meant they’d fall for Raiga’s move twice. Gomora took a step backward to square himself, and immediately collapsed. The fiery agony came in a second later, and Gomora’s eyes relayed the information later still as they showed him a bony spike jammed directly into the joint of his wounded knee. </p><p>The mangled, but very much alive Hakuja let out a screech of encouragement towards his allies as they fell upon Gomora. Shrikethorn’s tails scourged across Gomora’s face like whips before the screech had even finished, followed by Raijin smashing Gomora’s head with a double axe handle. Gomora’s vision could do nothing but alternate between white-hot pain and dull bursts of unconsciousness, but all the same he fought. Gomora swung out with his tail, driving all the air out of Shrikethorn and attempting to follow through to hit Raijin. The Category 5, however, blocked it with his armored head once more and exploiting the fact that Gomora’s leg was pinned, drove a heavy, kinetic energy-empowered jab right into Gomora’s belly. Raijin’s huge claws pierced through what was left of Gomora’s chest plate and scratched his ribs with a sound of tearing metal and thunder, unable to reach his organs by only the slightest of margins. </p><p>The Subterranean Knight’s eyes went bloodshot at the blow, hacking and wheezing for air amidst the blood pooling in his jaw. But a hatred of the arrogant, sadistic expressions on the Anteversers drove Gomora forward. Even with his movement cut off, he’d fight like a baited bear! <em>Laugh at me? See if you laugh at this!</em></p><p>Gomora’s horns glowed scarlet and some of his own blood evaporated as with a desperate screech, he unleashed a shockwave larger than he was tall to engulf Raijin. Raijin’s armor plates clapped shut over his head once more, and the clash of the unstoppable shockwave against the armor led to a tempest. Windstorms ravaged what was left of Tasikmalaya as stored-up kinetic energy from the shockwave was discharged by Raijin just as fast as it was collected, his faceplates practically solid blue at this point. The Category 5’s legs buckled, the strain of attempting to contain such power taking its toll even on his armored head. Nonetheless, the Anteverser was still alive and actually advancing through the beam at a slow pace. <em> No way, no Blueberry can survive this. No way!</em> Gomora intensified the blast with all of his might, his throat too hoarse now to even roar in accompaniment to it. Just a little more, just a little more, just a little more…</p><p>But that little more would never come. Hakuja ripped his tail out of Gomora’s knee and swung it at the Titan’s head, instinctively trying to save his stronger brethren. The result of touching the vibrating horns was for Hakuja’s already mangled tail to practically explode, sending shrapnel made of gristle and armor flying in all directions. One piece of dismembered bone flew straight into Hakuja’s brain, finally ending the hexapedal kaiju’s life. But even in death, Hakuja had accomplished his task. The explosion of kaiju tail made Gomora’s ears ring, and his face and shoulders bled with an entirely new assortment of wounds made by bits of Hakuja embedding into his flesh. Worst of all, the blow to his horns had cut his shockwave short, giving Shrikethorn enough time to charge out from behind Raijin and punch Gomora in the face with his meaty fist. Gomora weakly tried to raise his fists, but one of Shrikethorn’s spine-covered tails coiled around his left arm and yanked Gomora off his feet to send him right into Raijin. Raijin’s dented armor plates opened wide and Gomora saw nothing but black as Raijin’s massive main mouth engulfed his head. Moments later, the armored plates slammed down onto Gomora’s neck, their tooth-like edges grinding away at his flesh. The energy that Raijin had absorbed from Gomora’s shockwave strengthened Raijin’s jaws to a brutal extent, squeezing down on Gomora’s head so hard he could feel his bones creaking. </p><p><em>“GOMORA!”</em> Rei’s cry pierced into Gomora’s brain. Or that might just be one of the Anteverser’s massive teeth digging into his skull. It was very difficult to tell through the fog of agony blocking his vision and his hearing.<em>“IT’S EATING YOU! GET OUTTA THERE!”</em> Well, kaiju tooth or Rei’s voice, it definitely had a point. No way he was going out being swallowed! Gomora jammed his head further into those crushing jaws, and let his horns ignite to life once more. Raijin punished his movements with the shocking pain of his teeth dragging Gomora’s flesh, but with a desperate yowl, Gomora pushed through the pain. He let the condensed energy in his horns explode, and his vision went white as the biting force on his neck very suddenly released. The backlash from releasing the energy at close range had Gomora’s horns giving out pitiful, painful little sparks. But if it had killed Raijin, it would have been worth it. Anteversers were tough, but there was no way Raijin survived this. It couldn’t have, there was so much smoke billowing from its face. Not when Gomora had tried so hard.</p><p>But it was not to be. The Category 5’s form finally stepped out of the smoke, pieces of his armor blown away in many places, but very much not dead. Raijin spat out some broken teeth from his steaming maw and roared to Shrikethorn. Shrikethorn’s tails whipped forward obediently, wrapping around Gomora’s arms and pinning him to the ground. </p><p>Gomora writhed on the ground, trying to gnaw at Shrikethorn’s muscular tails. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raijin approaching with murder in his eyes. Gomora snarled, this fight wasn't over, not by a long shot! He heard no bell, and he sure as hell wasn't going to back down even if it felt like every bone in his body was broken. He was going to win, push himself beyond his own limits like Raiga or Junior would. He had to fight, HE HAD TO- </p><p>Drops of water suddenly fell down from the sky and onto Gomora’s head. The two Anteverse kaiju looked confused as well, noticing the sudden change in the wind that brought great thunderheads in. With a crack of lightning, the deluge began. The rain came pouring down heavier and heavier, washing away some of the burning buildings left in the wake of Gomora’s battle. Raijin and Shrikethorn shrieked to each other, the pair fixing their eyes on the seashore and letting Gomora go for the moment.</p><p>Gomora coughed up some more blood, snarling. He knew what these signs meant, the arrival of a fellow defender of his. The crack of roaring thunder followed by an even louder roar is what confirmed the young Titan’s theory. Now things were going to get…<em>interesting.</em> Now more than ever he had to prove his worth, he just had to get moving. It had been stupid of the Anteversers to turn their backs on him! Now they’d get a real taste of his power. Just as soon as his legs and arms decided to work, instead of giving out every time he tried to rise. Shrikethorn noticed his struggles and stepped over to the fallen Titan, positioning his barbed tails’ tips right at the base of Gomora’s skull. It gave a raspy little growl to itself, probably thinking itself quite clever for having secured a hostage against the foe from the sea. But all it had really done was set up Gomora’s second wind! </p><p>
  <em>...Any minute now...</em>
</p><p>Shrikethorn suddenly howled in pain, torrents of blue blood spurting from its chest. Shrikethorn’s paws scrambled at the blades emerging from its chest, futilely trying to retaliate before its strength left it entirely and it collapsed right next to Gomora. The light in Shrikethorn’s eyes faded out, glaring at Gomora in its dying moments. But its killer hadn’t been the Titan, who still found himself unable to rise from the ground. </p><p><em>‘Who’s stealing my thunder?’</em> Gomora managed to think through the agony as a mechanical foot stomped down onto the ground right next to his face. The realization of who it was felt like salt being thrown on every single one of his wounds. Tacit Ronin, in spite of the sparks emanating from its cockpit, stood in front of Gomora’s limp body. Blue blood dribbled from its extended blades, a testament to the truth behind who had killed Shrikethorn.<em>Stupid machine, I could have handled that Anteverser by himself.</em> The mind link with Rei opened up again, and Gomora would have said the same thing to the Jaeger pilots, but they spoke up first.</p><p><em>“Mit Amateuren arbeite ich nicht mehr.</em> Get your dog out of here! We’ll finish off Raijin” Eren commed through to Rei. </p><p><em>“Gom’s, you good?”</em> Rei’s voice echoed through the young Titans head, his voice tentative and slow.</p><p><em>“Never better.”</em> Gomora replied, refusing to give up his confidence despite his wounds.</p><p>“He’s right as rain, Tacit Ronin. Thanks for asking” Rei replied, unable to withhold his sass. </p><p>“He might not be for long. Raijin’s pissed” Mikasa noted, a bitter edge in her voice as Tacit Ronin got into a fighting stance. Gomora’s vision was foggy but he could make out the shape of Raijin stampeding forward like rolling thunder, his huge maw gaping wide. Built-up energy coursed down to Rajin’s claws, preparing for the same kind of energized blow that had rocked Gomora. Tacit Ronin was in no shape to dodge, and if it got hit as Gomora did? Tacit Ronin and its pilots had no chance against that kind of punishment. The Titan tried to rise up, but his body refused his will. </p><p><em>“Get up, come on body get up! We're not done yet!”</em><br/>
The young Titan screamed in his own head, desperately attempting to get himself at least up off the ground. But his body wasn't responding, it just sat there shaking like a weakling! He was no weakling! </p><p>Gomora’s own self-castigation melded with cries of desperation from Rei, war cries from the Jaeger pilots, and Raijin’s enraged bellow until his brain pounded with a deafening cacophony that drowned out his own thoughts. And then lightning struck. But it wasn’t Raijin doing the striking.</p><p>Yellow electricity coursed through the air and slammed into Raijin, the beast shrieking in pure agony as it was hit with the assault. Keloid scars formed instantly over its armored hide, and Raijin finally met his match as the defender from the sea charged past Gomora and Tacit Ronin. Red and blue scales flashed past Gomora’s blurry vision, practically melding with the electricity in the air as his savior collided with the Anteverser like a bolt of divine justice. But Raijin fought back like a demon, massive jaws letting out a thunderclap as he grappled with his new foe. Lightning and thunder met as the giants clashed, providing a spectacle that any survivors of Tasikmalaya would never forget. </p><p>But Gomora wouldn’t be awake to see it, as his heavy eyelids finally proved too weighty and closed, forcing him into the blackness of unconsciousness.</p>
<h2>==================================================</h2><p>The young Titan’s eyes opened quickly, and his body jolted upwards, a piercing pain wracking his body as he did so. He hissed, holding his side and head. Everything he felt was just...groggy. His vision was nothing more than a blur and it felt like his brain was just about to pound itself out of his head. The ground beneath him was cold and rough, feeling like... rock? Given the dark walls surrounding him, the realization of his locale being some kind of a cavern came quickly.</p><p>He sniffed the air, and immediately he caught two very familiar scents. One he was able to quickly deduce thanks to being around her all the time. It was a scent like aged wine, and then over it the scent of brine and crashing waves. He opened his eyes, his vision just barely adjusted enough to confirm whose presence he was in. Standing in front of him was a blue and red silhouette, one he recognized: Raiga. Her arms were folded across her chest, looking down at the rookie. </p><p>“Up. Now.”</p><p>“What-Why? Where are we goin-” </p><p>Without a second to continue his sentence, Gomora was yanked up off the ground by his nose, quickly being guided outside by the blue saurian. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she seemed upset. After all, what could possibly have her upset after such an awesome fight?</p>
<h1>Japan.</h1><p>The Global Defense Force Headquarters buzzed like a hive of bees, handling the mountain of work required to deal with the Tasikmalaya attack’s aftermath. Engineers, scientists, and soldiers alike flowed through the halls freely, the varying races and species mingling. Only one Mysterian, it seemed, had nothing to do. Rei scratched the sharply defined veins and scars on his face, trying to focus his mind on things besides the drone of the news playing inside of the waiting room he currently sat on. </p><p>“While we don’t have exact fatality reporters yet, initial reports indicate that over 5,000 civilians were injured during the Kaiju attack in Tasikmalaya, and more than double that are missing” a woman on the news reported, her voice muffled by a bulky mask. The majority of the people in the background of the newscast weren’t so lucky; wearing everything from thin, disposable masks to rags of clothing that weren’t too sodden by the kaiju blue. Nonetheless, underequipped as they were, the rescue workers continued to shift through mountains of rubble and kaiju flesh, looking for survivors with morose determination. It hardly looked like they were in a city; more like a junkyard that had been hit by a hurricane. Rei’s anxious picking got a little faster as he mumbled to himself. </p><p>“5,000, okay, well, it could be way worse. And it always looks bad in the immediate confusion.” In spite of his self-assuring words, Rei couldn’t tear his eyes off the TV. The camera now pointed towards an open sewer, torrents of blue poison spewing from a huge claw-mark in the street. The reporter continued, disgust apparent in her words even through the mask. </p><p>“The amount of collateral damage is truly staggering, on a scale not seen since the Final War. Current estimates find that nearly 90% of the city will be uninhabitable, leading to concerns over the mass exodus of refugees. The severity of this attack must make us all question if, with the Mutations decapitated, the Anteverse is now the planet’s greatest threat. And furthermore…” The reporter stepped onto something that made a nasty squelching noise, and the tiny bit of exposed skin she showed around her eyes instantly turned ashen. It was probably for the better that the camera avoided looking down at whatever it was. With narrowed eyes, the reporter finished her thought; “One must also wonder what kind of help the Titan known as Gomora offered, given that he caused nearly as much damage to the city as the invaders before a true hero arrived.” Rei felt an immediate instinct to yell some rebuttal at the TV, but he would not get the chance.</p><p> The TV was suddenly shut off as a door opened right next to Rei. Immediately, Rei got up and saluted to his superior, thankfully able to avoid being caught mid-scratch. </p><p> </p><p>“General Pentecost, sir!” Rei said, keeping his salute as firm as he could while subtly smoothing out the back of his shirt with the other hand. Pentecost’s finely groomed, silvering mustache and three-piece suit always made Rei feel underdressed, and now was no different. The older man looked Rei up and down, thumbing the remote to the TV with a slow, deliberate air. His eyebrows were furrowed a little and his lips together. </p><p>“Step into my office, cadet. Now” he said, in a manner that sounded rather calm. Rei felt himself relaxing in spite of himself.</p><p>“Yes, sir.” Rei nodded, following his superior officer into his office, closing the door behind him.</p>
<h2>======</h2><p>It didn't exactly take too long to get to the beach, Orka’s cave being not too far off from it. Gomora was thankful for that; his legs didn’t feel like they could have stood up to a longer trip. The sand felt warm beneath the young Titan’s feet, his tail leaving a line in the sand as he moved across it. <em>Why is she dragging me all the way out here? If she wanted to spar or something, she could just ask.</em> The very thought made Gomora have to stifle a sharp breath of pain as his cracked ribs protested. No, any spars would have to wait for later. And besides, Raiga wasn’t a backstabbing creep like Gorosaurus; she always preferred her opponents to be fresh. No, this trip definitely wasn’t for a spar.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe it was to congratulate him on what a wonderful job he did taking down those Anteverse kaiju? The thought lingered in Gomora’s mind and garnered a smirk out of him. Maybe he hadn’t been able to finish off the last two, but he’d done at least 99% of the work involved in beating them. Maybe only 90% if he were to give credit to that Jaeger too. Yes, perhaps a kiss like in Rei’s cartoons was in the foreseeable future? The fantasy was broken as he heard and saw the lightning snorting out of Raiga’s nostrils. <em> She’s probably just worried about me. But Godzilla used to come back looking way worse all the time; it was all a part of the job description to come out looking like a badass.</em></p><p>Gomora was so lost in thought that he bumped right into Raiga’s fin-covered back, causing him to awkwardly stumble back due to the sudden stop. Gomora shook his head a little bit, cocking his head in confusion at Raiga. Raiga turned around, her arms folded and a harsh expression making her bare her teeth.</p><p>An awkward silence filled the air between them.</p><p>“Sooo... what's up, Raig-” </p><p>“Shut up. What were you thinking,<em>rook?</em> </p><p>That word...<em>rook,</em> it made Gomora’s skin crawl. He wasn't some damn newbie! That fight proved that fact! And yet she was acting like he was so wet behind the ears he could barely clean his own butt!</p><p>“Did I do something wrong?” Gomora asked, squinting at Raiga. </p><p>“Oh, where to begin! First off, your gung-ho attitude &amp; friendly fire put two Jaeger pilots in the hospital,” Raiga replied icily. </p><p>“Okay, that was an accident, definitely my fault there. But they survived didn't they? Plus jaegers get rebuilt all the time anyway. That’s the point of them, right? Cheaper robots?” Gomora waved off with a huff. <em>And besides, those pilots were jagoffs anyway.</em></p><p>“Your little ‘accident’ nearly cost those pilots their lives, and the stunt you pulled bludgeoning those Anteversers has kaiju blue flowing down the streets. Speaking of which, you were shoving your fat rear around as if you owned the place, and tearing open so many buildings and streets that I’d be shocked if there’s an inch of the place not destroyed.” Gomora’s eyes widened as Raiga’s words sunk in, a swift retort ready to go.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter anyway, you came right in with a rain storm, right? That washed it right out, right?”</p><p>“Do you have even the slightest comprehension of how Kaiju Blue works? Even if I had pure enough water in my storm to clear out the poison without flooding the city, the fact that you blew one of them to bits meant my rain cloud was poisoned anyway! That’s not even going into how blasting Raijin’s face created enough wind to spread that stuff for miles! I think even a Kamacuras would struggle to survive there nowadays, and an epidemic is already beginning to spread amongst the refugees as we speak.”</p><p>“I-I thought I was doing the right thing. Beating the bad guys is what we do-”</p>
<h2>======</h2><p>“And because you and your monster’s main priority was ‘Beat the Bad Guys’, look at all the damage you’ve done” Pentecost lectured Rei, eyebrows knitted together as his fingers drummed his desk. What Rei had thought was calmness before had actually turned out to be frosty anger.  </p><p>“Look, how could we have seen more Anteversers coming? We were doing the best we could in a dire situation” Rei defended, staring at Pentecost pleadingly. </p><p>“You disobeyed a direct order, cadet! Honestly, you reckless types think you can disobey on a whim &amp; everything will turn out fine in the end,” Pentecost growled in a tempered fury, unmoved by Rei’s supplications.</p><p>“I disobeyed because I thought Tacit Ronin needed help! I saw what was going on, she wouldn't have been able to win that fight!” </p><p>“Contrary to your belief cadet, Tacit Ronin had the situation with Hardship handled fine. The Anteversers would never have revealed their hands over a single Jaeger, they’re too cautious for that. But then you and your Titan showed up, and suddenly there were more chips in play. Do you understand, cadet? By raising the stakes you made it worth their while to send in that trio to try to take down a Titan! Your ‘help’ resulted in two of my Rangers being taken out of commission, and an entire city paying the price for turning a skirmish into a war.”</p><p>What little reply Rei had left in him died in his mouth, the gravity of the situation finally crashing down on him. He ran his right hand through his hair, trying to find some fault in Pentecost’s logic. Before he could find any, Pentecost struck the finishing blow.</p><p>“Now, if you were anyone else, I might consider this a little mistake of the youth. But we both know that this isn’t the first time, don’t we?”</p>
<h2>======</h2><p>“Remember Final War?” Raiga’s words pierced down to Gomora’s core, and he let out a little hiss. “Don’t just hiss at me! Do you or don’t you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d forgotten after the concussion that Raijin gave you!” Raiga bringing up the Category 5 made Gomora suddenly focus a little closer on her. He hadn’t been able to see it before, with his vision so poor and in the murky light of the cave, but now in the daylight even he could see her scars. Raiga’s blue hide was chipped in many places, huge bitemarks and bruises showing on her hide. Raijin clearly hadn’t gone down easy. But more telling than the presence of wounds was their absence. Compared with Gomora’s smashed open chest plate, Raiga looked positively untouched. “Hello? Final War? Don’t tell me that Mr. Thunderhead knocked that out of you too!” Raiga growled sharply, dragging Gomora back to his more present humiliation.</p><p>“Of course I remember it! Big fight, we kicked ass, that’s all there was!” Gomora said quickly.</p><p>“Oh, no, no, no. You don’t get to weasel out of that shit with X. That place had a name, just like Tasikmalaya did. It was called Osaka. Now it’s called ‘Osaka-but-with-a-giant-hole-in-downtown-from-when-a-rook-tried-to-fight-X’.” </p><p>Gomora’s teeth gritted, the painful memory rushing back immediately. As badly as the Anteversers had hurt him, X had done practically as bad. Worse, in some ways; he was actually conscious the entire time with X. Gomora had had to see the smoking ruins of downtown Osaka left by his failed fight, lying there powerless to help any rescue efforts.</p><p>“Okay, I took the L there too. Don’t have to remind me of it.” Raiga shook her head, snarling at Gomora’s reply.</p><p>“I don’t care about ‘taking the L’. Everyone does that. I care that when you take the L, you take out half a city along with it. It’s not all about you!”</p>
<h2>======</h2><p>“In short, you have consistently shown a lack of consideration over collateral damage, cadet. I would say you’re a hammer looking for nails to hit, but that would be leaving out that this hammer also often breaks” Pentecost said with an air of finality, his words so crushing that Rei slumped in the chair. </p><p>“I-...I understand, sir. It won’t happen again” Rei murmured, averting his eyes. Pentecost shook his head and threaded his hands together.</p><p>“No, cadet, I think you misunderstand me. This is worse than a simple ‘I’ll never do this again’ can cover. This is bad enough that the GDF hawks are wishing they’d trained the Dimension Tide on Gomora too, do you understand me?” Pentecost clarified with narrowed eyes. Rei almost jumped out of his seat, eyes wide.</p><p>“They can’t do that!”</p><p>“Cadet!” Pentecost boomed, and Rei managed to sink back into the chair. “They most certainly can, and at this point I have half a mind to think that they should.” Rei gulped, and Pentecost watched him sweat before sighing. “However, that’s only half my mind. The other half doesn’t forget that you have also had the...misfortune of being faced off against only the highest caliber of enemies. The strongest of the alien vanguards, a trio of Anteversers who our scientists are convinced were custom-built as Defender assassins. These are some tough foes. Perhaps you deserve leniency under those circumstances.”</p><p>Rei couldn’t believe his luck. They were getting another chance? He skyrocketed from fear to joy in an instant, unable to stop himself from smiling like an idiot. The world had better watch out, because Gomora and Rei were gonna blow it away in their next fight!</p><p>“Stop smiling like an idiot, cadet, I wasn’t finished” Pentecost said bluntly and Rei sobered. “As I was saying, you’ve faced quite the caliber of enemy. And perhaps that is unfair, seeing how the both of you are some of the least experienced we’ve got,” Rei frowned at that, but Pentecost continued unimpeded. “Therefore, perhaps you should get something a little more befitting your level of experience. A little something easy while on probation.”</p><p>“Probation?” Rei sputtered. Pentecost seemed to almost smirk.</p><p>“We’ve heard rumors of strange goings-on in a tiny village out in the backwoods of Hokkaido. I’m sure in the end it’ll just be some new type of kaiju skinmite, but who knows, maybe you’ll find a yokai there too,” Pentecost said, slapping down a pathetic looking case file in front of Rei which consisted of nothing more than vague testimonies from people over a century old. Rei gaped at it with an open mouth. It was probably for the better; it stopped a curse from coming out!</p><p>When Rei finally regained the ability to speak, he shook his head and smiled in a forced way.</p><p>“Well, Gomora and I will get right on that” the Mysterian hybrid said quietly. </p><p>“Actually…”</p>
<h2>======</h2><p>“Grounded? You can’t ground me! I’m the hero here!” Gomora complained to Raiga, who had taken him by the tail and dragged him across the beach more than a hundred meters. Gomora hadn’t recovered well enough to put up much of a physical struggle, but he still flailed and writhed about like a hooked fish.</p><p>“Oh, I most definitely can! I am just one more slip-up from getting a priestess like Gamera, having her walk up to GDF headquarters, and telling them ‘Hey, you missed one!’” Gomora stopped his struggling, looking at her with hurt genuinely showing in his golden eyes. Raiga sighed and shook her head as the pair reached the cave. Gomora sat on the cave a moment and then turned his head back at Raiga.</p><p>“...Was it <em>really</em> that bad?" Gomora asked quietly. Raiga looked at him, letting him answer the question himself. Gomora bowed his head and punched the floor. “Damn it. AGAIN! It’s so unfair! I don’t do anything different from you, yet everyone rides my tail like no tomorrow over it.”</p><p>“You really think that?” Raiga asked. Gomora, with a fierce snarl nodded his head up and down.</p><p>“Obviously! I rush in, stop the bad guys from hurting the innocent! And every day I try to get stronger and stronger to make sure you guys don't ever have to fight again! Yet, you guys act like it’s selfish!” Raiga stared at him and then let out a low noise from the back of her throat and began to walk away.</p><p>“If that’s how you really view me, then that’s just another reason you deserve to be grounded here,” the blue saurian huffed as she stepped towards the waves. Gomora looked out after her, quirking his head. <em> Did I say something</em>?  He extended his paw, a plea about to emerge from him...but then he put his paw back down and kept his silence. No, he had done nothing he should be apologetic about. Whatever she was upset about, it wasn’t his problem. </p><p>Gomora’s tail twitched, and then lashed out, smashing apart a rock formation in his sullen anger.</p><p>...Which promptly hit Raiga in the back of her head, causing her to snarl and twist around, an energized punch coming right into Gomora's vision.</p><p><em> Oh no. </em> </p>
<h2>======</h2><p>Rei leaned his chin on his fist as the GDF buggy drove through the rough mountain roads leading to the village. Of course he’d agreed to Pentecost’s terms in the end; what other option did he and Gomora have? It didn’t mean that either of them had to like it, and Rei did his best to voice that to the only audience he had. Unfortunately, the driver of the buggy happened to be deaf, and so that plan was quickly thrown out of the window.</p><p>The buggy hit a particularly vicious bump in the road, and it was only Rei’s Mysterian reflexes that kept him from punching himself in the face. With a resigned sigh, he leaned back in the seat and groaned. He ran his fingers down his face and did his best to smile a little bit. While this whole ordeal was humiliating, it technically was a paid vacation. Oh, sure, he technically had a job to do here, but it’d probably just consist of calming down a few yokels and then grabbing a skinmite or something. Yes, then he could go and maybe relax in a hot spring thereafter, and enjoy his time off here. </p><p>He wasn’t going to let the Man break his spirit, after all. With that satisfying thought in mind, Rei took his hand off his face and was pleasantly surprised to see the signpost of the little hamlet right in front of them. The GDF buggy came to a stop and Rei saluted the driver, who returned the gesture before driving off and leaving Rei alone. Rei turned to get a better look at the signpost, the old wood looking like it was barely hanging on. Yeah, this was definitely an old place alright. Rei took a deep breath, and entered the village.</p><p>Old style Japanese homes lined the street that he walked upon, looking as if they’d been ripped out of the Middle Ages. It was charitable to even call what he was walking on a road really, it was more of a section of mountain where the grass was mostly cut away. Rei hadn’t been expecting a hotel, but this was something else.</p><p>
  <strong>CHOP!</strong>
</p><p>A loud noise caught Rei’s attention, emanating from below a small precipice at the village’s edge. Rei nimbly navigated the treacherous and steep path downwards; even if it was only a few meters of elevation difference the village was remote enough that an ordinary person would have found going down the “steps” a challenge. Rei landed at the side of the cliff, and found his boots had gone straight into a small river. As the water swirled around his boots, so too was there was a trace of red in the river.</p><p>A trace of blood.</p><p>
  <strong>CHOP!</strong>
</p><p>There was that sound again, but this time, Rei could see who it came from. A girl stood by the edge of the stream, her owlish, dark eyes fixated on him. She looked almost comically out of place, with a city-style jacket and top clashing with the greenery of the forest. That was until one saw the hefty knife in her hand, the true source of both the blood and the noise. The girl had chopped the head off of a fish with it, and had her other hand deep inside of his torn open flesh. </p><p>Pop, pop, pop went the fish’s spine as the girl deboned it, ripping its skeleton out through its front. She did not break eye contact with Rei once during the process, merely narrowing her eyes and furrowing her heavy brows. Rei had once heard that Mysterians were unnerving to look at; he had to say, they did not even begin to compare to the kind of stare-game this girl had. </p><p>“Uh, hey girl. I’m Rei from the GDF, and…” Rei scrambled to say something that sounded vaguely authoritative. He wasn’t about to get intimidated by some teen! “...Aren’t long knives like that illegal in Japan?” With one final pop, the girl finished deboning her fish and brushed her thick bangs out of her face.</p><p>“If it’s below 15 centimeters and I’m hunting, it’s legal” she replied with a sneer, jamming the blade into the fish’s gut with a violent wrench. “I’m Ayana Hirasaka, and welcome to Hell.”</p>
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